1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a train-position locating device and a train-position locating method for locating a train position.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is conventionally known an onboard-oriented train control device that actively manages the track position of a train and that controls a train speed. The onboard-oriented train control device has GPS antennas and GPS receivers that are arranged in a distributed manner in a train constituted by a plurality of railway vehicles so as to improve the reliability of detection of the train position, and includes a storage device that stores therein route maps and GPS-antenna installation position information. The onboard-oriented train control device performs a positioning calculation by causing each GPS receiver to receive GPS signals from at least four satellites, and recognizes the track position and direction of the entire train by using the route maps. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-168216 discloses such a technique.
However, according to the above conventional technique, GPS-based detected positions have errors although the onboard-oriented train control device corrects the train position to correspond to the route maps using the GPS signals as needed. Therefore, the conventional technique has a problem that it is unable to locate the train position even in a combination of the route maps at locations, such as rail yards and railway stations, where a plurality of tracks are arranged to be adjacent to one another in parallel to such a degree that it is impossible to detect the train position with position detection accuracy of a GPS.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a train-position locating device that can locate a train position at places such as rail yards and railway stations, where a plurality of tracks are adjacent to one another.